Central defender Adam Jukes has become the final Youth signing as Eric Kinder takes his numbers to 15 for next season.

The Youth Boss told us: "Adam has been at the Liverpool Academy, and he is a strong, tall and aggressive defender. He has an older brother who has also been through the system, and both of them are very highly rated."

"He had a trial at the Blackburn Academy," he continued, "so I have been talking to them about that. They have explained that Adam was extremely unlucky not to make it, simply due to the fact that they have a very good crop of players in his position at their Academy already."

"I've been trying to sort things out with him for three weeks now," he said, "and it was good to get him here this week and introduce him to everybody. I'm delighted that he has decided to stay with us, and it'll be good to work with him next season."

"That takes me to 15 players for the season now," he told us, "and, having had a look at it, I'm comfortable that we are in a position to kick on from here. There is one place that is open, but I've decided not to rush in to anything on that. Don't get me wrong, if something exceptional crops up, then we'll move on it, but I'm happy with the players and the numbers that we have at this moment in time."

"I am planning towards not being able to use Gary Madine at this level," he conceded. "I fully expect him to be pushing all the way for a first team place but, having said that, he would be allowed to play for us, as he will still be at college. That means that we need one from Ryan Bowman, Michael Dowson or Andy Cook to step in to his shoes and start scoring the goals that he was scoring. That will be a good challenge for them, and one that I am sure they will be looking forward to."

"We have competition for places all over the pitch," he added, "although we are possibly light on the left hand side. However, we can use different formations when needed, as we have seen this season, so I'm more than happy with the shape and the balance. There are also two or three lads in the U16 and U15 category at our Centre of Excellence that I know will be able to step up, if required, and that's good for me to have in reserve."

On the departure of Ged Dalton, he said: "Ged was something that the previous manager wanted to try, having seen him have a very good pre-season during last summer. If I'm being honest, I don't think we had the same player following the really bad injury that he had. He hasn't really come back from that yet, although I am sure that he will. He's been struggling to get in the Youth side recently, and I think the decision that has been made today is the best thing all round. He really is a cracking lad, and I wish him every success for the future."